![\"Meeting](\"https:\/\/www.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/20160414_nk00002.jpg\")
<\/a>Meeting for political study by Worker\u2019s Party at a local town. It was for demanding loyalty to kim Jong-un. Taken in the summer of 2013 by ASIAPRESS<\/p><\/div>\n
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The seminar was held in early June. The National Security Agency ordered high-ranking government workers and Worker\u2019s Party officials to attend. The ASIA PRESS reporting partner collected detailed information from seminar participants. The seminar speaker told participants that defectors face discrimination and misery after going to South Korea. Our reporting partner explained that such seminars are frequently held for ordinary people, but previously not for high-ranking officials. The following is a summary of the seminar.<\/p>\n 1.On the matter of resettlement funding for defectors from North Korea in the South:<\/strong><\/p>\n Brokers, under the control of the National Intelligence Services of South Korea , help people to escape and then steal money from their petty resettlement funds. Although the South Korea government appears generous in offering resettlement funds, as the brokers work for the government, the government is actually stealing money from defectors.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Barbed wires alongside Tumen River separate North Korea and China. The picture shows barbed wire at Sanhe Zhen, Longjing City, Jilin Province of China. Hoeryong City of North Korea is across the river. Taken by Park Young-min on July 2012 (ASIA PRESS)<\/p><\/div>\n <\/p>\n 2.On the matter of education and jobs for defectors:<\/strong><\/p>\n The South Korea government created Hanawon, an education facility for resettling defectors. Defectors are reeducated in Hanawon. However, the education is not helpful for resettlement. Further, Hanawon actually imprisons people in a solitary room as the state investigates their past. No one gets a job after the Hanawon reeducation. <\/p>\n 3.On the matter of taxation and expensive medical bills:<\/strong><\/p>\n People cannot live in South Korea if they do not pay taxes. Without money, people do not receive treatment and die. The government confiscates the belongings of people who do not pay taxes and who lack insurance.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n In South Korea, civic organizations, established by order of the government, give defectors out of date food and used clothing Next page: 5. On the matters of jobs; hard to find and available only for the dangerous and dirty...<\/strong> The speaker claimed that it is hard to get jobs in South Korea. Also, the speaker claimed that even if a defector finds a job it would be a job that South Koreans do not want to do. North Korean refugees are treated as foreigners, and jobs are not forthcoming. The only jobs that are provided are dangerous, for example working on a construction site, in heat treatment, or other hazardous works. Many people are harmed through this kind of work and they do not get medical treatment. 6.On the matter of an official\u2019s wages: South Korean officials get a monthly salary of KRW 2million. This amount makes it very difficult to live.<\/strong><\/p>\n A government official\u2019s wages are often 2,000,000 KRW per month. More than the half is taxed, and what is left is less than 1 Million KRW. With this money, they need to educate their children and feed their family. But food is extremely expensive, too. So a three-person family will struggle. 7. On the matter of remittances sent to family in North Korea The money is not from the defectors. The money is from the South Korean government. It is lent to defectors at a high interest rate. The money is meant to entice North Koreans to escape to South Korea.<\/p>\n The speaker played a tape of a defector talking to her mother, who she left behind in North Korea. The tape said that the woman defected last year and had to sell her body in a Karaoke bar, because she could not find a job in South Korea.<\/p>\n The last part of the seminar talked about how merciful North Korea is to those who come back and that those who return to North Korea live happy lives.<\/p>\n Our reporting partner explained the reactions of the seminar participants: It is reasonable to regard the participants\u2019 reactions as a performance. That they were hiding their true thoughts from others<\/p>\n *<\/strong> Asia Press uses Chinese phones to contact internal reporting partners inside North Korea.<\/p>\n It has been revealed that the North Korean State Security Department \u2013 the DPRK secret police, ordered high-ranking offi\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3597,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[7,11],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2403"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2403"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2403\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3597"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nRelated article: <Kim Jong-un\u2019s Furious Response to the Defection of 13 Restaurant staff><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/a>
\n*<\/strong> The speaker talked about \u2018Cheon Young-chul\u2019, who re-entered North Korea to destroy a statue. The speaker claimed that Hanawon warped his brain during the interrogation.
\nRelated article: \uff1cInside North Korea\uff1eNK discloses arrests: \u201cBlasting group to assassinate their top.\u201d Maybe an intrigue!<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n
\n4.On the matter of treating defectors as homeless:<\/strong><\/p>\n
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n
\n5.On the matter of employment; jobs are hard to find and the only available occupations are dangerous and dirty:<\/strong><\/p>\n
\n*<\/strong> The speaker paused the seminar for a moment and called upon a few audience members, asking them whether they think they would be able to find work if they escaped to such a horrible place.<\/p>\n
\n*<\/strong> The speaker said that defectors get about 1.2 Million KRW per month, after working for 9 to 10 hours a day. The speaker claimed that after taxation, the left over money is not enough to eat.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nSome of the participants shed tears. Many showed disappointment. Some said, \u201cEven if we eat porridge, let\u2019s eat it comfortably at home [in North Korea].\u201d Some exclaimed, \u201cWe shouldn\u2019t accept the money that families in the South send us.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/a>* Editor\u2019s notes on North Korean reporters<\/a>
\n<\/a><\/strong><\/span>ARCHIVE(pdf) >><\/a><\/span>
\n DPRK MAP >><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"